Daily Inspiration: Meet Brandi Kvak

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandi Kvak.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started? 
January 2022, my husband and I were both working for other people. He was in the construction industry, and I was working in the insurance industry. I have always dreamed of opening a restaurant, but it was such a daunting project, and after covid, it just didn’t seem like a profitable venture. My dream was to have a small “local” type restaurant where you knew all of your customers, coffee was good and only a buck or 2, and you had specials daily that once you ran out, you ran out. I love that comfortable local great food-type place. We were like, what about a food truck. We don’t have to be run by a huge corporation; we can pick our specials, we can work where and when we want, and we can build a customer base where we KNOW them, and they know us. 

By nature, I research everything, so off I went! I joined every food truck Facebook group, followed every food truck in our area, researched what foods trucks were selling and what wasn’t out there. I read books and talked to several food truck owners to get an idea of what it was like. 

My husband {Nick} and I searched for trucks and trailers and found someone who built them about 4 hours away from where we lived. We drove down and looked at them and put a deposit down. By Friday that same week, we were back down picking it up! 

It took a couple of months to gut it and put in all the equipment we would need for our operation. We started booking places that would take a chance on a new truck, and we fell in love. 

My husband runs the window; he is exceptional at this position. He is the reason everyone says we are the friendliest food truck they have ever been to. He builds relationships with almost everyone that comes to eat our food. This is very important to us. We want you to enjoy the entire experience. Customers have a choice on where they spend their hard-earned money, and they chose us! 

I do the cooking and booking. I think feeding people is my love language. I enjoy it so much when I know that people loved my food. We hand-cut all of our meat. We have our own marinade. We skewer every single stick. I think that it shows in our food and our customer base. 

We have built amazing relationships with the businesses that have us come out. We are known to not cancel events, to show up every time and on time, to be flexible {because a lot of times in this business nothing goes as planned} and we have many times catered our menu or set up to go along with something the venue is currently doing, such as a special burger for 80’s night or a dessert only for one location. 

We got the name Birdies from my niece and nephew. When they were young, they couldn’t say Brandi, so it was Birdie. Now all of the kids in my life call me Birdie. It just made sense to use that as our name. 

My husband is an Army veteran, and we are HUGE supporters of the military and first responders. All military {active or veteran} get a discount. All first responders in uniform get a free meal every. single. time. and if not in uniform, they will get a discount. 

We feed our local SWAT team for free as a donation at their training. We have donated food to the local police department. We love them and are so thankful for what they do for us day in and day out 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I think with any new venture, smooth would not be the best way to describe the process. Every step, we had to learn and adapt. There are regular struggles like why is the grill not turning on or we forgot to lock the refrigerator, and now everything is all over the floor lol! And then there are bigger struggles like figuring out where is the best place to set up, being considered an outsider to some cities (that are only 5 minutes away). We had to learn the laws, the regulations, and codes as this was all new to us. The food truck community is very small, and we have been fortunate to have met some amazing food truck owners who never treated us like we didn’t belong. We always say we are not in competition with anyone except ourselves; there is enough business to go around. 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My husband and I both gave up our careers to do our food truck full-time. We work on the truck and have a part-time worker for our large events. 

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
I don’t really believe in luck. Or at least you create your own luck. My dad always told me growing up that I can do whatever I want and be whatever I want as long as I work hard enough and want it bad enough. I think that my husband and I work our butts off every single day, sometimes our days are 18 hours long, and we care so much about our food, our business, and our relationships that our hard work and dedication is what has made us become successful, and that is what will drive us into the next level 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.birdiesft.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/birdiesft/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/BirdiesFT/